A Price to Pay
by RedMamba
Summary: There is one thing in the wast ocean, that can do everything it pleases and it has waited so long for a time like this. It has waited so long for someone like Mokey D. Luffy and the people surrounding him, but what does it want? It will be the one, who tears them apart or the one, who glues them together even more. What will be chosen?
1. The Draw

**Let's skip the starting words, okay?** **One Piece is not mine, I just borrow the characters and play around with them. I hope the first chapter is to your liking.**

* * *

The Strawhats landed on the island they had chosen from their three logs. Meaning Luffy had decided on a needle, which surprisingly wasn't the one shaking the most: it was the middle one. Even more surprising was the fact that the island was inhabited, after all they were in the New World.

"Meat!" the captain yelled and earned a well placed hit from his navigator.

She fumed as she told him: "You should know that we need to keep a low profile on inhabited islands. Who knows what kind of monsters live here, remember?"

Luffy mumbled something under his breath and stalked onward, definitely not doing what Nami had so kindly made him remember. He went some twenty steps before he was stopped by a man, who towered, at least two heads taller than him, menacingly over him. Behind him Luffy could hear Zoro unsheathing some inches of his sword.

"What do you want here, Strawhat Luffy?" the man asked, still looking rather frightening his eyes gleaming unnaturally. "Do you intend to attack our village?"

Luffy looked up and flashed his bright smile, then answered: "Nope, we just pass by and want to stock up our provisions. We haven't seen any islands with humans on it in a long time, ossan."

The man had eyed him less suspiciously by the second. He looked over to the famed pirate's crew, seemed to come to a decision and then looked again at Luffy.

"Well, we don't have any visitors around here, if you don't count the Yonko in whose part we are, so feel free to follow me. In the forest grow some poisonous plants, so follow me closely" the man said and turned to leave. He went few steps and waited politely, since the pirates would need time to decide if they really wanted to go after him. What went unnoticed was the predatory expression that flickered over his face.

"He seems suspicious" Usopp said worriedly eying the tall, hulky man. "Who in the world asks such a question and then invites pirates?"

Nami expressed similar worries, while Franky was all too eager to go. Zoro hadn't said anything, but stared at his captain awaiting an answer from him. The rest of the crew began to argue about going and not going, all looking at the pros and cons. They couldn't lose that much, could they? They were nine against one in a forest with dangerous plants Chopper could probably heal anyway.

Luffy had reached that conclusion- or he just wanted to go and eat- so he beamed: "Let's go, let's go! I wanna eat meat!"

Sanji could only shake his head and mutter something about "always it comes to that one's stomach", but he still followed as the crew went through the jungle. It was already past dusk and pretty dark, so they more followed the man's presence than his actual form. Luffy being the one to lead them, Nami and Robin quietly discussing something behind him, Zoro after them, Usopp, Chopper and Brook quivering behind the swordsman and Sanji and Franky in the back.

"You can fetch your ship by the morning, and then you can dock it somewhere at the shore. You won't have to wander through the jungle anymore" the man said as he turned to look at them. His eyes seemed to glow somehow. Like a cat's eyes. "For today we have an annual feast, so probably no one will sleep and you don't seem too eager to do so, too."

He smiled and led them past some lying trees, around some spiky bushes and under a stone formation, which looked like an archway and then finally some lights could be seen. Just around the corner was a gigantic fire, in which some animals were being grilled, and people standing there talking, laughing, drinking and eating. All seemed to have a good time.

The first one to spot the newcomers was a girl of maybe thirteen, fourteen. She came over to them, smiling, her blue eyes reflecting the light falling on them. Her walk had something old and Robin briefly wondered from where such a young girl would have this kind of movement. She brushed the thought away for later inspection.

"Too-san, are those the pirates we saw earlier?" she asked. She seemed to be a bit scared of the one eyed swordsman, who looked less pleased than his grinning captain. "Are they joining us? Do they stay long? What do they want? Ne, too-san?"

The man smiled and ruffled the girl's hair before answering: "Yes, those are the Strawhats, you know, those who took out several marine ships and destroyed Punk Hazard and are currently outsailing the marine's fastest ships, those with the crazy enemies they always beat. They will stay at least for tonight, I don't know more. Go back to your mother and brother okay, Kanna?"

She nodded eagerly and waved the crew goodbye. Soon she was midst in the festivities, from where she showed a younger boy where she had been. Then the two ran off, somewhere between skirt helms and legs their forms disappeared.

"Why do you have this feast today, if I may ask?" Robin inquired as she saw some men and women in masks strode by that had some motives on them Robin thought were familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint from where she knew it.

"We celebrate the birth of this world, something we have done for the past few hundred thousand years" he said. "Well, feel free to join, I'll go search my wife. Have fun!"

The Strawhats looked after him, most a bit bewildered. What did he mean with the birth of this world? Usopp had wanted to ask the man, but since he was gone he turned to Robin just when Nami swore. He looked to her and saw what had upset her. Luffy was nowhere to be seen.

"That shithead of a captain could at least say where he's going to. Damn it all," Sanji cursed and also took off. Favourably to where beautiful women were and he could find some fine wine and, although he would never admit it, to where he may see his captain.

Zoro went somewhere to get a drink, or two, or twenty and vanished into the festivities. Nami shook her head, grabbed Robin's arm and wandered into the party, leaving Chopper, Usopp, Brook and Franky behind.

Brook saw some people set up instruments and decided to join them. Soon all could hear over the crackle of the fire a melody take up. Cheers grew louder and soon the crowd was dancing and laughing. Everyone enjoyed the music, even though there was an eerie tone lying under it and speaking of things long forgotten.

The three last Strawhats to join were red-hot to dance too and made quite the show. Usopp was even able to start a line of dancers.

Soon the crew spotted Luffy in the midst of a half-eaten animal. It was huge and they saw some cooks looking dumbfounded at him. He waved his crew and bit into a bit meat. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Is it normal for him to eat half a mountain-camel?" one of the cooks asked the face palming Sanji, who stood next to him, a woman in each of his arms.

The fellow cook only nodded and, a bit disgusted by his captain's manners, took off into the crowd. He needed something strong and he needed it fast. Luffy sitting inside a half eaten camel was not something he had ever wanted to see.

The festivities continued until dawn, when the great fire in the plaza died down. Only now did Franky notice that no one had tossed any new wood into the fire. It seemed strange, so he decided to ask the man later; since he had seen some other rather peculiar things happen.

"Is something the matter, Franky-san?" Robin asked him. Franky jumped, he hadn't heard her arriving at all.

"There were some _super _odd things happening and I wanted to ask about them" he answered truthfully and stood his arms above his head in his own angle.

Robin chuckled and said: "So you noticed too?"

Just in the moment Franky wanted to answer, the rest of their crew gathered around them. The man, who had brought them to the village the night before stood behind them. Even though it was bright day he had something menacing in the way he stood there and looked at the pirates.

"I'll lead you through the jungle to your ship. You can bring it to the cliff over there and anchor" he explained and went into an alleyway.

They entered the forest, which was almost as dark as it was the night before; it seemed to be even more dangerous at day than at night. Nami had the feeling she was being watched, no not only watched, but scanned somehow. As if something would look at her so closely it may see right into her head. It made her shiver. Then they broke out of the forest and only now she realized how eerie quiet it had been in there. She hadn't heard the sea, which was quite near to the jungle. Then she noticed that even her so loud captain hadn't uttered a single word within that forest. Maybe he had felt that stare too.

"See you later" their guide said and disappeared into the forest.

* * *

As the Strawhats anchored the ship where the man had told them, near a peninsula consisting mostly of big rocks, some tension was lifted off them. Luffy sighed deeply.

"A-ah. That was one strange forest" he exclaimed. His smile was almost as bright as it was when he was eating the mountain-camel. Then his eyes got that familiar glow, which still made a part of his crew have bad presentiments. "I want to go explore it!"

His enthusiasm was cut short when Nami hit him on the head. "No, you are not going to wander off somewhere and get lost. We will only get provisions and then leave right away. Understood?"

Luffy nodded and then turned to Zoro and Usopp. "Let's go together!" he yelled, what earned a second hit.

"Well, do whatever you want, but be back at dusk!" Nami instructed and left the ship with Sanji and Robin. The Log Pose took only twelve hours to set itself, so they had to wait maybe another four, but it couldn't hurt to wait a bit longer and get the cabin fever out of them.

The others apart from Luffy, Zoro and Usopp also went into the village, although Franky never went so far that he couldn't see the Thousand Sunny. All that were left behind were a grinning Luffy, a scowling Zoro and a confused Usopp. How did he get into such a situation again? The three of them took off into the jungle, Usopp less pleased, but quite sure he would be the only one to find the way out so he had to stick around. Though Zoro, he noticed, didn't seem too eager either.

* * *

Truthful to his earlier decision Franky scanned the people of the island in search of that man. Once he spotted the tall guy, he went up to him.

"Hey, would you explain some _super _things to me from yesterday?" the cyborg asked. "Well, first things first; who are you anyways?"

The man smiled. "I am Rei; I haven't told you that before, have I? What did you want to know, Cyborg Franky?"

Only now did Franky notice the strangeness of the man, Rei. Even though Franky was taller than the man he somehow felt smaller. The look Rei gave him had something completely distant, but he still seemed to be able to see through Franky. It was not really assuring, Franky thought.

"The birth of this world you mentioned, it was the reason for that _super _party, right? But what do you mean by that, wasn't the world always like this?" Franky started.

"That is not quite true. The world changed over time and the birth of the way it is now marks the beginning of the sea devil's reign over these seas" Rei smiled and turned to look out to the shore. "That's the reason we have this annual feast."

Franky was surprised to say the least. He went on: "Why would you celebrate the devil's reign?"

Rei laughed- it sounded as if he was belittling Franky- and turned back. "We celebrate, because the sea devil is not that bad and we have done so since the very start of this all."

"Since the very start you say? That's quite the while." Franky pondered, slightly annoyed by the other's tone.

"Yes, since the very start of a reign that has lasted for hundreds of thousands of years," Rei retorted. His smile had something even more foreign than his unnatural eyes- or maybe it was the weird combination which made Franky a bit uneasy. "You said you had more than that question?"

"Ah, yes, I did. The fire you had burned down and no one had nourished it. Why would you let something so big die down so easily?" Franky knew his question sounded strange, but it just didn't make any sense to him. A fire in a feast like this should be cared for he thought.

Rei smiled. "Because everything dies no matter its size, its grandness or its strength, everything comes to an end. The fire is the symbol for that- a life that ends and a life that can grow of it."

"Grow of it? Do you use the ashes?"

"We certainly do. The ashes are distributed throughout the island and its forest. You could say at least half of this island's ground is made of these ashes." Rei smiled his creepy smile and looked at Franky, as if to say he wouldn't answer anything anymore.

The cyborg understood and didn't feel the urge to go more into detail, Rei was freaking him out and he suddenly wanted to leave the island very badly. He thanked the weird man and left for the ship.

* * *

It turned out he wasn't the only one who wanted to leave, but without the captain- and in that matter the swordsman and sniper too- they couldn't leave. Plus, Robin was still somewhere on the island. It was not long until dusk now and the present crewmembers were growing more and more impatient by the minute.

Dusk settled and only Robin was back. She seemed bewildered by something and asked if they were complete and if anyone had noticed something strange about the island and its inhabitants. No, they were still waiting for Luffy, Zoro and Usopp and yes, they felt uneasy on the island too. So they sat and waited, and waited, and waited.

It was near midnight when the three explorers came back. Usopp was white as a sheet and the first thing he said when coming aboard was, if they could leave now and _please fast. _Zoro looked frightening, his scowl deeper and darker than in any place before; he placed the same request, albeit without the pleading tone in his voice. As the last one to board Luffy didn't look different. His grin was in place, his eyes sparkled with unsuppressed glee and his hat was around his neck.

Though, as the crew noticed only a moment later, his body was tense, as if he was awaiting something grand to happen and it should happen _soon._

"Luffy, can we leave?" Nami asked carefully. She didn't know why, but she felt Luffy wanted to go, but at the same time he felt something pull him back. "Please?"

He hadn't paid her attention. His look had wandered to the peninsula not far away from them. His smile faltered and he pointed to it.

"What's that guy doing there?"

All heads shot around to see what he meant. And truly, there really was standing someone on the tip of the stone formation reaching to the sea. He stood there as if he owned the sea itself, he didn't move. It was as if he was made of the stone around him.

"Isn't that Rei?" Franky said and squinted his eyes to have a better look. "You know the _super _guy that led us through the jungle?"

But before anyone could answer, Rei turned to look at them. Even though he was quite far away they saw the unnatural glow of his eyes. He looked worried, but at the same time he looked excited.

_"They come. The draw brings them here."_

The Strawhats exchanged confused glances and when they wanted to look at Rei again, he was nowhere to be seen.

Instead there were lights on the sea. Soon they could make out ships, which had their lights on for better view. The first they spotted a submarine, whose flag was a red skull around which were several T-shaped extensions. The Heart pirates approached the island. Behind them was a big ship with a seagull on its sail. A marine warship came into their vision. Several other marine vessels followed. Then came a ship with a flag one would recognize everywhere.

_What in the name of everything in heaven and hell were the Whitbeard pirates doing here?_

More and more ships flooded the water near the island. More and more known Jolly Rogers became visible as the vessels were drawn to the island like moths to fire.

One sentence seemed to echo through barked commands and shouted orders, hurrying excuses and desperate swears.

_The draw brings them here._

And then the world began to shake.

* * *

**haha, a cliffy. I hope this prologue sparked your interest! See you :)**

**RM**


	2. The Devil

I'm such a bad writer... Sorry for the overly long wait. Here's chapter two ^^ **One Piece** isn't mine and I don't make any money out of this story.

* * *

Waves taller than mountains crashed onto the shore, tossing ships around as if they were nothing more than a child's toys. One could hear men falling over board scream over the thundering sound the waves made and faint there was the sound of earth breaking.

"Hold onto the railing!"

No one could tell who said that, but it became evident that everyone was doing exactly that. Holding onto dear life while being rocked back and forth in whatever vessel they were in. Water lapped over the ships, covering them before releasing them in an erupting wave. It had started to hail. Ice of the size of fists rained onto the different crews. It was just the beginning, though. Lightning struck the island and even some ships. Soon there was fire added to the furious sea clashing onto everything it reached.

The Thousand Sunny was in no better circumstance than every other ship. Franky tried to hold the ship steady, but the helm trashed wildly around and wouldn't stay still. If this continued on the Sunny would crash into either the peninsula or the shore. Nami was shouting orders at the top of her lungs; this storm was nothing she had ever seen, but she was not ready to give in to it. She would master the storm, find a way out and prove her superb navigation skills.

Zoro and Sanji were on the mast securing the sails. The ship moved pretty badly so they wouldn't let any of the Devil Fruit users go up. Sanji was currently trying not to slip and fall into the black waters below him. The rope he had tied up earlier was loosening and he was binding it again. He cussed under his breath; the hail hitting his back and making it hard to breathe. Zoro had similar problems and he was starting to feel some scar tissue being damaged by the crazy hail.

Usopp tied everything onto the deck that could move with Luffy. They were a good team and soon everything held and they started to move things under deck. Luffy went to grab Chopper and worked his way over deck into the doctor's room. It seemed it was the only place where furniture was nailed onto the ground and most things locked away making it relatively safe.

Brook had found his way into Chopper's room too and hummed something. If he didn't have such a light body, he would be out there helping the crew, but Nami had forced him to stay inside. He took a sip of his tea and offered Robin some. She had come into the room a bit after him, smiling and saying she would only fall overboard with such a storm going on. When Usopp and Luffy stumbled inside with Chopper, all three of them dripping and some bruises growing on Usopp's upper body from the hail, the five of them looked tired.

The thing no one noticed was the lack of colliding ships and the island growing in height.

"What the hell is that?" a marine shouted. He had seen some silhouettes appear behind the warship. The marine officer wasn't the only one who had spotted the forms behind them. Several pirates and other marines were now looking for signs of the strange sight.

Several bright lightning struck and allowed a better view of the surroundings. Here it was when most of them weren't so sure if they had wanted to see well. Behind them cliffs from under water towered and seemed to grow into the dark clouds. The ships were all caught between the island with its mountain at the back and the cliffs protruding from the water like fangs. Then everything went dark. No lightning, only the rolling thunder becoming more silent and the blackness surrounding them. Everything told them it wasn't over yet.

Eerie silence greeted them. The sea had calmed down to the point it didn't move. There were no waves and no lapping sound of ships being in water. All fires that had burned flickered and died. The hailstorm had ebbed. No sailor uttered a single word. They waited.

It was until the ships were drawn to the ring the cliffs and the island formed. There in the middle of all vessels was the sea, ever so black in the faint light the now showing stars brought. There was still no sound.

On the Thousand Sunny the crew had gathered onto the deck to look what will happen. It was Luffy, who saw it first; the thing appearing in the middle of the different sailors.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?" he shouted and broke the silence. It was as if the world had breathed when the quiet was shattered.

It stood there quiet and waiting. Then it moved an arm and on top of the fanglike cliffs fire crackled into life. It illuminated the strange scene that had unfolded and made the thing in the middle look more like a ghost than anything else.

It turned its head to the Thousand Sunny. From afar the crew couldn't see anything. Then it spoke.

_"It is time to ask again. Our king wants you to answer that question. We invited you here, because you will answer it."_

When it didn't say more the heavy silence settled back down again. The figure was illuminated strangely; in a way that made no one able to see its face, but everyone able to see its tall frame. It had coal black hair that swallowed the light that shone upon them and a strangely androgynous body form. Though it was dark everyone could tell that there were strangely familiar stripes glowing on its skin.

_"I'll have to take your ships away so you have to stay and cannot flee."_

It lifted a hand and the flames on the cliffs were set ablaze almost blindingly bright for the adjusted eyes of the sailors. Then the earth trembled again, not as furiously as before, but still enough for the people to stagger and slide on their ships. Now its face could be seen, but no one cared anymore. If they had looked the only thing they would have seen was an empty face with those familiar patterns all over it. If one knew how a devil fruit looked like and knew the one identical mark on them, that thing's belonging was indisputable. That one and only motive that let you know you held a devil's fruit in your hands: the stylized wave.

_"Our king will see you shortly."_

Then the world went black.

* * *

When they came to senses the first thing one realized was that they were inside a gigantic cave. Secondly realization hit them as they could not see the familiar planks of ships underneath. Third was the proximity of enemies all around. Soon the crowd had divided itself into one big group and several smaller ones. The big group was the marines led by Admiral Kizaru, several Vice Admirals and Commanders.

Had the circumstances been any other the command to take every pirate and, surprisingly, revolutionary captive or killing them would have been barked a long time ago. Now the marines stood there waiting for something to happen to give them a chance to capture all these big name pirates and other criminals. Same went for the pirates and revolutionaries. Since they didn't know what would happen, no one dared to make a move.

Again it was the captain of the Strawhat pirates who broke the strange silence. "What do we do now?"

He hadn't asked anyone in particular, but got some sympathetic looks from all over, since no one could have been so heartlessly blunt about their lack of ideas or knowledge about leaving this place.

"And," the young pirate captain added. "Where are we anyway?"

He looked around him and noticed at first the colour of the cave. Its walls were blue like the open sea only now and then its colour changed into something nearer to green as if there was a shore coming up close by. It was without doubt stone, but he had never seen anything like it and in that matter no one had.

When there was no answer he started wandering around the cave. Now and then knocking on different places and tilting his head as if thinking hard. He continued doing so until he was stopped by someone calling him.

"Strawhat, stop doing that. It's unnerving enough to be here without you walking around," the rather gruff voice of Vice-Admiral Smoker commanded.

Luffy only turned around to look him square into his eyes as if he was the biggest idiot existing. Pissed off by such behaviour from the- in his eyes- dumbest pirate ever Smoker couldn't stop himself: "What the hell are you looking at?"

Luffy tilted his head. "Do you know how we got here?"

Now giving puffs of angry smoke from his body Smoker snarled: "No, the hell could I? I was out cold until a moment ago."

This statement was surprising in a way and everyone turned to look at the marine who had kept up such a cold and controlled façade- everyone besides Luffy.

"No I didn't mean that. I mean actually this place here. It has no doors," Luffy stated and turned back to the wall. "No windows and no tunnel leading in here."

He then walked to a certain spot and knocked again. He scratched the wall a bit and then let his hand fall down.

"Zoro, cut this wall open," he said without turning back.

Instead of the one destructive slash there came three of them barging into the wall. Two were almost of the same strength and the third one was a bit weaker, but not so much that everyone could see. Practically it was only Luffy who could tell the difference in strength. There were long strips in the wall showing where the slashes had hit, but the wall did not crumble. Then the cuts started disappearing as if the wall was sucking them in- no, as if the wall would heal.

"Well, didn't go as planned, ne, Luffy?" a familiar voice rang out to him.

Involuntarily Luffy's hand went to his straw hat as he recognized it. He hadn't thought to hear this particular voice until he had sailed around the world.

"Your blow seems to have weakened, Hawk-Eye," the same voice continued teasingly and burst into laughter. "You're not growing old, are you?"

Almost every head turned to look at the man, who was so casually talking to one of the Shichibukai and sounded like a proud parent when talking to Strawhat Luffy. It was true, every one of name and rank was assembled here, but no one had the time to really go into detail to exactly who was here and who wasn't.

The Red-Haired pirates were here and it was their captain, who was laughing. Behind him his first mate was shaking his head in exasperation and lighting a cigarette. Sometimes he just didn't have the energy to keep up with his captain. Shanks though didn't look worried at least, but somehow thrilled. He hadn't planned on seeing the little boy he left on that island, but as circumstances made it quite impossible to stay away he thought he goes with the flow of things.

"You've grown, Luffy."

The grin on Luffy's face widened and he was just going to answer, when the cave trembled strong enough to make him stagger and some other lose their balance.

_"I hate to destroy your reunion, but I'll start this ordeal, okay?"_

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. It echoed through in the cave and when it stopped, the floor and walls began to twist and reform. The lighter blue parts shifted to the centre of the wall behind the marines and the darker parts opposite them. The fair parts began changing their form and pushing outside, as if something behind them was pushing through. Soon enough the wall had formed something like a chair or more precise a throne. No one sat on it and all eyes were glued to it.

Then from the darker parts a shadow emerged and split. It moved through the floor, the ceiling and both walls between it and the throne. The chair changed colours and became darker, almost black before a figure started to build itself up. One could hear all kind of weapons be drawn and readied to attack. Who knows what that thing would want to do.

The form on the throne became more and more human shaped. The shadow seeped through the wall-chair. First there was a torso, then legs and arms formed and finally a head. It didn't have a face and looked somehow human and at the same time didn't. It was one of the strangest things the sailors had seen- and that meant something since most of them sailed the grand line and the new world.

The head split- or so it seemed, the head got a mouth. It stretched into a weird grin and then there grew holes in which eyes grew. The thing had a face after all. It was strangely androgynous. It had no trace of being female and showed no signs of being male. It was still a strange shade of bluish black. The colour drained and left a more or less human being there- naked. It had no clothes, but since it was sexless, that didn't matter one bit. Darker patterns started to move on its skin and soon they saw that wave.

_"To start off, I would like to tell you that the reason you are here is indeed me. I think the others have told you something like that already."_

Its mouth had moved, but the voice came from everywhere. The grin on its face widened and made the waves dance on its skin. Its clear blue eyes burned brightly as it looked over the crowd scanning each and everyone, assessing their strength. It leant forward, placing its head in its hands, smiling warmly.

_"A long time ago I made the same thing I'll do with you. For lack of better things to say, it was catastrophic. So please listen closely what I am going to tell you and act accordingly."_

"What do you want, king of those beasts?" this time it was Kizaru, who spoke, dragging out the last syllable. He looked unimpressed, but then again, when didn't he look that. Only the tension he radiated and the way his eyes were fixed on the figure sitting there gave his anxiousness away. He had a vague idea of the strength it possessed, but wanted to confirm his thoughts. "Kill us?"

It laughed heartily and brushed its hair behind an ear. Its eyes glittered amused and they looked like the calm sea of South Blue, warm and inviting. It shook its head and stood up. It wasn't especially tall and neither was it really short. Its nakedness was strange, but then it had no gender, what made it even stranger to look at it. It seemed to feel that and smiled. The throne started to grow extensions that snaked their way around its waist. A tunic in all the colours of the sea soon hung from its shoulders. It jumped down, so it was on level with the sailors.

_"No, I don't want to kill you. Well, that depends on your answer then, but before I ask you that one question, I need you to come to me."_

"We're where you are," a marine pointed out and looked at it. "Wouldn't that make it easier?"

_"No, silly. Let me rephrase. I will wait for you where you can find your ships. There I will ask and depending on what you say I let you go."_

An uncomfortable silence enclosed the sailors when they understood what it just had said. This was an enormously irritating situation they found themselves in. So they had to find their ships, where that thing would be and answer it and if they replied correctly they could go, meaning they could die at the end too.

_"The more of you get there, the higher the chance of winning, you know. The walls open paths if you want them to open, so you are actually making your own way."_

"Zehahaha, you're not fighting us?" Darkness swept across the floor, sucking some marines in and making its way to the figure standing there. "I'll take your powers, then, zehahaha."

Blackbeard was also there. His logia powers were enclosing the thing and sucking it in. Blackbeard's eyes gleamed dangerously and he seemed confident in his strength.

_"A-ah. I have to say, that your power is nowhere near strong enough to take me down."_

The thing, now completely surrounded by the blackness of the darkness fruit, smiled softly. Then it made something no one would witness again: it grasped the darkness around it and started to wind it up like a thread. Now and then it knocked onto the darkness and the marine soldiers, who were sucked into it earlier, fell down – unscathed. When all of them had come out the humanoid pulled once at the darkness. It made a soft 'plop' and then it dissipated, leaving no trace of its existence. The thing grinned.

_"I am the Sea Devil, young one, and I am the source of your powers. Do not take me lightly, because I can use them and have used them for longer than all of your years combined. You do not want to make me angry, young pirate._

_"Now, when this is settled, I wanted to start your chase. Remember: Find me and answer and you may go. I would be delighted if all of you came."_

Behind its eyes was a strange glint as it said that, almost as if it wanted the sailors to take it by word. The Sea Devil turned around and went into a wall, where it disappeared in a blur of different shades of blue. The cave started to tremble lightly.

And then out of nowhere pillars of that strange wall shot out and started to grow into walls and rooms, effectively separating crews and splitting them apart.

Then, over the whole rumble one clear voice was heard, it shouted an order: "You hear me? Don't let anyone die!"

* * *

Wahahahaaa... a cliffy. (seriously, I'm such an idiot.) I hope you liked the chapter, I finally can bring a bit of action into the story. Haha, I have things planned- to a certain extend :D

I have to thank the user Natylol for reviewing the story! Thank you very much!

RedMamba


End file.
